Sugar and Steel
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. Zombie AU to "House Call". Daryl always knew that he would do anything to keep his family safe. And now that the world has ended, Daryl is finding out just what exactly "anything" means.
1. Circles

**I have been wanting to write this story for so long and I know many of you have been wanting to read it. This is an AU to my already AU story so if you don't like the idea of this happening to _House Call_ , you don't have to read it since it has no effect on the already existing HC stories. **

**A few things: I thought of the apocalypse back when Daryl and Beth still lived in the woods and Hunter was just a toddler. Abby will not exist in this particular story. This begins at 3x01. As always, this first chapter is short and serves as just an introduction of sorts to the rest of the story.**

* * *

…

 **Chapter One.** Circles.

The three cars stopped when they were far enough from the house they had just run from and everyone piled out, moving like a well-oiled machine, their weapons at the ready. Everyone did a quick scan of the area as Maggie grabbed the road map and spread it out on the hood of the first car.

"We got no place left to go," T-Dog said.

"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be completely cut off. We'll never make it south," Maggie said, smoothing her hands over the brown and green spread out before them, her eyes studying what she had long ago memorized.

"What would you say?" Daryl asked, leaning into the car. "That was 'bout 150 head?"

"That was last week," Glenn shook his head. "Could be twice as many by now."

As the others continued to talk back and forth about what they should do and where they should go next – though it seemed as if they had already gone everywhere – and Rick seemed to come to some sort a decision, a decision that none of them seemed real eager about, Daryl's eyes floated towards the last car in their caravan. They immediately fell upon his wife. Beth was standing at the open passenger door, handing a heavily-pregnant Lori Grimes a bottle of water, speaking to her and knowing Beth, it was probably something comforting and just what Lori needed to hear in that moment.

Three-year-old Hunter held onto her other hand, standing beside her, sucking on his thumb. He had learned – and learned quickly – that he was never to wander off. He was always to have one or both parents in his eyesight. They taught him as quickly as they could when they had been at the farm. Carl was always wandering off and it seemed like Lori spent most of her days looking for him. Daryl and Beth made sure that their boys were not the same. They only wandered off if they wanted to get their bottoms spanked. He and Beth had never been comfortable spanking the boys – especially him – but with the world the way it was now, Daryl supposed that adjustments had to be made.

It wasn't any of his business but it seemed as if Carl had needed to be a little disciplined like that but he knew that Rick and his wife had bigger problems between them right now than that; problems everyone in their group knew about but pretended they didn't.

Daryl's brow furrowed as his eyes scanned over everyone. Where the hell was Luke?

He pushed himself back from the car and almost tripped over something behind him. He turned and saw that it was Luke. Luke gave him a small smile and Daryl reached out, putting a hand on his head, pulling him to stand at the car between him and T-Dog.

"Stay close," he told the seven-year-old and Luke nodded, not saying anything.

Ever since they had lost the farm to a herd a few months earlier and they had been spending the winter months moving from one place to another – never staying in one for too long – it seemed as if with each passing day, both boys had gotten quieter. At first, they had asked Beth and Daryl practically every day where they were going and if they were there yet but each time, Beth and Daryl answered with an "I don't know" and the boys eventually just stopped asking.

They spent the winter going in circles – finding a house or random shop or building that they were able to fortify for a couple of days before they had to run out in a hurry. They were all exhausted and cold and Daryl tried to hunt as much as he could so no one in their group – especially his wife and two sons – didn't go hungry to add to the mountain of problems they already had. With each month that passed, Lori got bigger and they knew she was close to giving birth. Rick was barely talking to her anymore and the women tried their best to make her as comfortable as possible but they needed a _safe_ place for the birth to happen but not just for that. They all needed somewhere.

He wanted to see Beth smile again and hear his boys feel safe enough to laugh.

With whatever decision Rick had come to, made and final, everyone stepped away from the hood, Maggie rolling the map up to return it safely to the car.

"You mind if we go to the creek first? We need to fill up on water and we can boil it later," T-Dog said, grabbing his bag that he had dropped to his feet.

"Knock yourselves out," Rick said with a nod before turning to Hershel for a quiet word.

Daryl walked back towards his bike with Luke right on his heels.

"You going hunting?" Luke asked as Daryl nodded, pulling his crossbow into his arms.

"You hungry?" Daryl asked though he knew the answer. The answer was always the same. It seemed like no matter how much he hunted, their bellies were always empty.

Luke nodded, his hand going to his stomach. "Not much meat on an owl."

Daryl felt his lips twitch in a little smile. "Nah. I'll try and find us somethin' better," he said and Luke nodded away, tilting his head up towards him, his eyes squinting in the sun.

They were all dirty – filthy – and they had all gotten used to the smell but he wondered just how badly they all stunk, too. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The less they smelled like living and breathing humans, the better they were off.

Daryl moved his eyes and found Beth again. She was talking with Annette but then, feeling his eyes, she turned her head and saw him. Within seconds, she excused herself to her mother and came his way, Hunter's little hand still tucked into hers. Daryl frowned a lot whenever he looked at her. He couldn't help it. Beth had always been a little thing but now, she was all skin and bones and he hated it; hated himself for not being able to ever find them more food.

"Everyone's heading to the creek. I'm going to take the boys," Beth said and Daryl nodded.

Rick had come up then, too, looking to Daryl, wanting to speak with him. That had been happening all winter. It was as if with Shane dead and gone, Rick was looking to him more as his right-hand man; was doing that even before Shane was dead – looking to Daryl for advice or his opinion or even guidance.

Daryl depended on this man to keep them all safe and Rick depended on Daryl for the same.

"Hey," Daryl said to him. "While the others wash their panties, let's go hunt. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot," he said and he saw Beth roll her eyes, making his lips twitch a little.

Rick nodded and then went to go speak with Carl and Daryl looked back to Beth.

"Knife," he said and she nodded, his eyes going to the sheath hooked to her jean loop and hanging against her thigh. He then looked to Luke. "Knife," he said again and Luke obediently lifted his tee-shirt, showing that he had a sheath, too, of a knife hooked to his jeans. Daryl nodded and moved his eyes back to Beth. "A'right. I won't be gone long."

"Let me have your water bottle," Beth said and he reached into the bag off the side of his bike and handed the empty plastic container to her. "Be careful," she then said and he didn't say anything or make a promise to her. He felt like he really didn't have to say anything when she said that to him. Of course he'd be careful. He had a family to get back to.

Luckily, their whole group had survived the winter. Rick, Lori and Carl. Hershel and Annette. Maggie and Glenn. Carol. T-Dog. They had gotten separated from Andrea as the farm fell and they didn't know whether she had made it out or not. And others before that, they had lost but they tried not to think about them too often. If they thought of all of the people they had lost, it would make it damn near impossible getting through their days.

Shawn had never gotten out of Atlanta. At least, that's what they thought. All they knew was that he hadn't gotten to the farm and they didn't know what had happened to him. Same with Merle. Merle had been in lockup in Atlanta's jail and Daryl had wanted to go and get him before Beth was able to stop him, pleading with him to not leave her and the boys and Daryl knew that he couldn't. Merle was his brother but Daryl told himself every day that Merle had gotten out of that jail somehow. Nothing could kill a Dixon except a Dixon and his brother was the toughest son of a bitch he had ever met.

Beth leaned into him and Daryl leaned down, their lips meeting in a quick kiss. He then looked to Hunter and Luke, bending down and giving them kisses on their heads.

"Be good for your mama," he said and both boys nodded their heads silently.

Daryl tried not to sigh. Before all of this happened and they had been living a simple, quiet life up in their house in the woods, Hunter had been a hellion. He had been in his terrible-twos and Beth and Daryl were already worried that he might never leave them. He was a Dixon through and through. But then, the world collapsed and for a while, on the farm, he had still been their little trouble-making toddler. But not anymore.

Now, Hunter just got quieter every day and Daryl would give anything for his son to be giving him early grey hairs again.

Daryl watched as most of the group headed off into the trees to the nearby creek, Annette and Carol staying behind with Lori, who still sat in the car, looking exhausted and pale. Rick came back to Daryl and with the crossbow in his arms, Daryl led the way across the road into the opposite woods, easily finding a set of train tracks that had been claimed once more by nature like everything else in the world.

He had been trying to teach Rick how to hunt. He figured it was the best thing to do. Before, when Luke had just been four, Daryl had started teaching him and his lessons still continued and Daryl figured that the more capable hunters the group had, the better. It was taking some time with Rick though. For a man who had been a Sheriff before all of this, a profession that generally liked their people being observant, Rick couldn't track for shit. He didn't know how to read the signs clear as day around him and Daryl didn't know how to teach him so the man got the hang of it.

Beth told him more than once that it took a really smart person to be a tracker. Daryl didn't necessarily agree with her even as she told him just how hard a skill of tracking really was and Daryl had been known to be the best tracker in their county. Daryl would never consider Rick stupid though so his inability to track and read signs made little sense to him.

Daryl led the way, following the tracks further into the woods, and Rick quietly followed. At least the man knew how to quiet his steps which was more than Glenn or T-Dog could do.

Maybe Rick wasn't catching onto it as quickly as Daryl thought he should have because the man had so much more on his mind. Rick was their leader and he had twelve people looking to him for answers. Daryl took care of himself and his family but Daryl also looked to Rick like the others did to make sure that Rick made decisions for all of their best interests. Rick had made it clear to all of them that he was the one running this show and if they wanted to stay with him, they would have to fall in line. And they all did. But now, Rick had to deliver on his words. He would keep them safe and he would find them a safe place.

And not only all of that but Rick also had a heavily pregnant wife who was ready to give birth any day at that would be terrifying for any man who had a wife who had to go through that. Daryl didn't know what he would do if Beth was the one pregnant. Yes, Hershel was a doctor and was a man more than capable of delivery but there was only so much he would be able to do without certain tools or medicines. What if Lori started bleeding out or the baby was stillborn or died and turned while still inside of Lori?

Daryl didn't blame Rick for being distracted and probably scared out of his mind. Daryl didn't even want to think about what he would do if anything ever happened to Beth.

The trees thinned out a bit ahead and Rick stepped past him, his eyes trained on something. And Daryl saw it a moment later. Down the slope, in the basin of the surrounding hills, there laid a large structure with a tall double-fence surrounding the whole thing. He saw walkers stumbling in the grass, all locked in and he saw tall towers at different intervals.

A prison.

He looked at it for a moment and then looked to Rick. He saw a gleam in the man's eyes and he knew what Rick was thinking about doing. Daryl instantly agreed as he always did when it came to ideas and decisions of Rick's. This place was absolutely perfect. Hopefully, the fences were secure and there weren't too many walls down. Hopefully, it would be that safe place that Rick had been searching for all of them for these past few months. And hopefully, they would be able to take on all of the turned prisoners that were still trapped inside.

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and if you read, please comment!**


	2. Already Awake

**I know some had no interest in this whatsoever but so many of you are excited and that makes me excited. The next chapter will have much more Daryl/Beth interaction than these first two have.**

* * *

…

 **Chapter Two**. Already Awake.

They had a pair of bolt cutters and Rick cut at the fence, pulling apart the chain-link to form a hole big enough for all of them to climb through. Daryl went through first, crossbow aimed at the ready but the fence across from them that surrounded the inner prison yard seemed secure, walkers throwing themselves against it, trying to get to him but being unable to. Daryl then spun back towards the hole, grabbing Hunter and lifting him through as the others climbed in behind him. He then helped Lori and then Beth and Luke. Rick was the last one through the hole and T-Dog and Glenn tied the hole back shut as quickly as they could as walkers following them through the woods threw themselves against the fence on the other side, trying to get to them.

"Go, go!" Rick ordered.

Daryl saw T-Dog swing Hunter up in his arms and he then began running forward, hearing the steps of everyone running behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, Daryl saw that Rick and Beth were right behind him and Luke's hand was in Beth's, the little boy keeping up pace with them.

At the front entrance of the prison, the gates for vehicles to drive through were securely locked and beside it, there was a gate door for people to walk through. An overturned truck laid in front of the vehicle entrance. Rick stopped and stared through the link, breathing heavily, the wheels in his head turning as he looked it all over – at the prisoners in the yard and the layout of the fences. Daryl quickly counted. At least two dozen walkers. He then looked to Hunter still in T-Dog's arms and he reached out, taking the boy in one of his arms and nodding his thanks to T-Dog.

Hunter wrapped his arms around Daryl's neck and hugged him tight and Daryl could feel the sweat gathering on the boy's back through his shirt.

"It's perfect," Rick declared, turning back towards them. "We shut that gate up there, we can pick off these walkers. We can take this field by tonight."

Everyone's heads turned to see the gate at the top of the hill he was referring to – the gate that was open that led into the prison rec yard, clumps of walkers rambling about. Beth's eyes slid back to Daryl, seeing him looking through the fence, up towards the gate. She expected him to volunteer and her heart was already lumping in her throat. She loved that Daryl was the sort of man who would volunteer to do anything to help and yet, it did nothing for her nerves. He seemed always so willing to jump headfirst into the fire and she couldn't help but feel selfish when she always did her best to try and hold him back.

"I'll go," Glenn spoke up.

"No," Maggie immediately said, fiercely shook her head. "It's a suicide run."

"I'm the fastest," Glenn pointed out to them what they all already knew.

"No," Rick was the one to turn the idea down now. "Beth," he turned towards her and she couldn't help but have her eyes widen, thinking for a moment that he was suggesting she run up the hill for the gate. "You, Maggie, T and Glenn go to that fence over there. Draw the walkers to you, pick off as many as you can. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot. Take your time. We don't have that much ammo to waste. You and Daryl go in that tower. Hershel, you and Carl go in that one. Annette, Lori, pick them off from this side. And I'll run for the gate," he gave the orders and everyone moved away to their assigned positions.

Hunter squeezed his arms tightly around Daryl's neck.

"It'll be a'right," Daryl told the boy, looking to Beth for help. "We'll make this field safe and then you and your brother can go runnin' 'round tonight."

"Come on, Hunter," Beth came and gently pulled Hunter away, the boy whimpering in protest, still trying to cling to Daryl. "It's alright. It will be alright. Daddy will be right back."

"I want to help!" Luke then said as Beth finally successfully wrangled Hunter free.

"You are going to help," Beth said. "You're going to look out for your brother and make sure nothing happens to him."

She set Hunter down on his feet beside Luke and Hunter immediately surged forward, crashing himself into Daryl's legs and squeezing his arms around one. Daryl looked to Beth, confused, and he saw that the same expression was mirrored on her face. He wasn't too sure what was going on. Hunter had never clung to him like this when he had to go off and he didn't know what to do. Beth looked confused, too, and she shook her head slightly.

"Come on, Hunter," she crouched down and gently tried to pull on his arms. "Daddy has to go and take care of those walkers so we have a safe place to sleep tonight."

"No!" Hunter refused to let go of Daryl's leg and it always amazed Daryl how strong a three-year-old could be when they wanted to be.

Daryl sighed heavily. "A'right. Come on." He lifted Hunter up in one of his arms and he looked to Beth as she stood back up. "I'll take 'im with me," he told her and he could see that she wasn't too sure about that decision but it was better than dealing with a meltdown right now from a toddler.

Beth visibly swallowed and nodded and she didn't stop Luke as he went running off after Daryl, too. It wasn't as if she was worried about them being safe with Daryl. Of course Daryl would keep them safe and make sure nothing happened to them. He'd willingly die before he let anything happen to their boys. But Beth supposed that a part of her was still trying to shield them – which she knew was ridiculous. This was the world now and she couldn't keep them sheltered. Keeping them safe meant keeping them aware of things around them. Hiding them from this reality would do no one any favors.

She turned and hurried to join the others at the fence, taking the piece of pipe that Maggie held out towards her, walkers already heading their way and her eyes drifted back towards the tower, seeing Carol and Daryl as well as the two boys standing there, Luke holding Hunter's hand and keeping him back against the door.

And then Lori opened the gate and Rick took off running. A few bullets flew, along with bolts from Daryl, and Beth stabbed as many of the walkers in the head as she could but they were getting distracted by the other noises being made.

"He made it," Maggie breathed with relief and Beth saw that Rick had been able to close and lock the gate at the top of the hill and had made it into the nearby tower.

"Light it up!" Daryl called out.

Within minutes, it was all over. Every walker that had been rambling around the field was now down and truly dead. Smiles and laughter were exchanged, slaps were given on the back, and everyone seemed to breathe at the idea of them having this entire place for themselves, securely fenced in and _safe_.

Beth hurried back towards the tower as Carol was coming out and they exchanged smiles and Hershel was there, slapping a hand on Daryl's back before bending down and swooping Hunter up into his arms. Beth ran straight into Daryl and hugged him, her arms around his neck, squeezing as if they had been separated and they hadn't seen one another for days or years. Or even just hours. His arms were strong and tight around her, too, and as the others walked away, heading through the gate and into the yard, Beth and Daryl remained where they stood, neither seeming to be very willing to let one another go.

After the farm fell to the herd, they had gone back to their house in the woods for a few days. They had taken the chickens to the farm as well as emptied Daryl's deep freezer of meats when they had gone but there were still plenty of canned vegetables and fruits and Beth's garden in the back had become a tangle of weeds with no one tending it but vegetables still grew and hung on the vines.

They stayed for a few days, all cramped into the small house, but it was better than just running with no direction. Beth knew they couldn't stay though. The house may have seemed isolated but walkers still found their way and there was no way to fully protect it and Rick seemed so sure that there was a better place out there for all of them.

Leaving their home a second time – the first being when the evacuations had started and they had gone to the farm – had been one of the hardest things Beth had ever had to do. Their little house in the woods was her favorite place in the world.

They couldn't take that much, not wanting to use space in the cars that could be used for food and weapons, but they took all of the blankets and food and they had taken clothes and anything else that could be considered useful. Beth made sure she grabbed the family photo album, too.

She now hugged Daryl and she told herself that this prison could be a good thing. There were fences and it didn't seem like walkers were able to get through. It could be a safe place for all of them, for their sons, and for Lori to give birth but – and not for the first time – she just wanted to go back to their little house in the woods. This was the place Rick had been talking about finding for so long now.

"Hey," Daryl said softly as he heard her exhale a shaky breath. "We're fine," he said in a low, gentle-sounding voice that always made her think that she was a doe he was trying to hunt and not scare off.

Beth nodded her head. "I know." She pulled her head back and looked at him, seeing him look at her with concern dark in his eyes as he looked over her face.

She couldn't tell him that she wanted to go home because if she said that, Daryl would go. He would take her and the boys and they would leave and fend for themselves. And maybe they'd be able to make it. Maybe they'd be able to make their little house safe and live there and everything would be alright. Or maybe, it wouldn't be. Maybe, if they left here, it would be a huge mistake, leaving tall fences and safety just because she missed home. She couldn't put Luke and Hunter in danger like that. Or Daryl. And she couldn't leave their other family.

She lifted her hands and touched Daryl's face as if she needed to just make sure that he was real and standing right there in front of her. Daryl closed his eyes for a brief moment and then leaned in, resting his forehead to hers.

She wondered if he ever wanted to go home, too, but she had a feeling that a part of her didn't even really want to know his answer.

…

Daryl had managed to catch them a rabbit for dinner and with a stray can of beans and another can of pineapple of all things they had found along the way, they were able to have dinner. Not much but food in their stomachs was better than none at all.

They built a fire and sat around it, eating and just letting their weary bones rest. Rick didn't eat. Instead, he walked the fence again and again, checking for any weak spots, and Daryl had taken post on the overturned truck at the gate, keeping watch from the front.

"Carol," Beth said softly to the woman on the other side of Lori. "Could you take this to Daryl?" She asked and held out a bowl of his helping of rabbit and beans. Daryl didn't like pineapple. "He needs to eat."

Beth then looked down to Hunter, dozing in her lap, showing why she couldn't go herself. Carol just smiled though and took the bowl, getting to her feet. Beth watched her walk away and then her eyes fell on Lori.

"This will be a good place to have the baby," Beth said and Lori looked at her, giving her a small smile though it was apparent that Lori didn't really believe her. "Safe," she added.

Luke finished his dinner and then laid down, curling into a ball on his side and resting his head on Beth's knee. She hummed softly and rested a cheek on Hunter's head as she combed her fingers through Luke's curly hair. The others talked in hushed voices, so used to being quiet at all times and having fences around them right now didn't change that.

"Bethy," Hershel said suddenly, startling her for a brief second. "Sing somethin' for us."

And Beth almost immediately protested. She hadn't sang in so long. No place ever seemed safe enough and she didn't want to sing and draw potential attention to them all by making unnecessary noise. But Hershel was looking at her with those sparkling eyes of his and faint smile and Beth couldn't tell her daddy no when he looked at her like that.

"What should I sing?" Beth asked, still combing her fingers through Luke's hair.

"How about _The Parting Glass_?" Annette suggested from next to her. "I've always loved the way you sing that one."

With both parents after her now to sing, Beth knew she couldn't get out of this. She took a deep breath and looked into the flames of the fire as she sang rather than anyone else.

" _Of all the money that ere I had, I spent it in good company.  
And of all the harm that ere I've done, alas was done to none but me.  
And all I've done for want of wit, to memory now I cannot recall.  
So fill me to the parting glass. Goodnight and joy be with you all."_

Hunter nestled closer into her chest as she sang and Daryl, Carol and Rick all walked towards the fire as she continued. Daryl stood on the other side of the fire, across from her, and their eyes remained locked with one another as she sang the next verse, a faint smile across her face. He hadn't heard her sing in so long and whenever she had – once upon a time in their old life – he was always drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

" _Of all the comrades that ere I had, they're sorry for my going away,  
And of all the sweethearts that ere I had, they wish me one more day to stay.  
But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise while you should not,  
I will gently rise and I'll softly call, Goodnight and joy be with you all._

 _Goodnight and joy be with you all."_

"Beautiful," Hershel commented once her voice faded on the last note.

A moment passed of quiet – nothing but the crackling flames and the chirp of crickets and groans from the walkers on the other side of the fence.

"We should all get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow," Rick said.

"Doing what?" Glenn was the one to ask.

Rick took a moment as if gathering his thoughts. He then looked to all of them. "I know we're all exhausted but we need to push just a little bit more. From the looks of things, this place fell pretty early on and think about everything they have would still have inside. Food, medicine. This place could be a goldmine."

They were all quiet, thinking that over.

"An armory?" Daryl asked, his voice sounding rougher than usual.

"That'd be outside the prison walls but not too far. Map would be in the warden's office," Rick said. His eyes glanced to Lori and then to the two boys sleeping on Beth. He then looked to the others. "Tomorrow, we'll have to go in. Hand to hand. We don't have the ammo to waste and there are too many…"

Beth felt her throat instantly grow dry and she looked to Daryl. He was staring at Rick though and she knew, without a doubt, that he would be one of the ones to go inside.

Rick then stood up. "Get some rest," he then said before walking away from the fire.

Beth hardly noticed as Lori got up to go after him, her eyes, instead, watching Daryl as he walked around the fire, taking his crossbow off from over his head and settling down in the grass beside her. Hunter and Luke were completely asleep now and she didn't want to move or talk even that loud and disturb them. They were all exhausted and she wanted the boys to get a full night's sleep, which none of them had been able to get in so long.

"Did you eat?" She asked him softly.

"Yeah. Gonna have to go huntin' tomorrow mornin' for breakfast," he said. "You eat?"

She nodded and didn't verbally answer. She kept looking at him, wondering what he thought of Rick's plan but not wanting to ask. During their winter, her husband had become Rick's right hand man and pretty much agreed with everything the man said or decided. If Rick thought going into the prison tomorrow, fighting however many walkers were in there was a good idea, Daryl would think so, too.

And Beth, too, knew that that it was probably a good idea. They needed food and a safe place to sleep and she wanted her boys to be able to walk outside without having to worry about anything trying to eat them. She just hated the idea of any of them – especially Daryl – having to go inside that building.

"They eat?" Daryl asked, breaking through her thoughts. "You didn' give 'em all yours, did you?" He asked, already frowning at the thought.

"I ate, Daryl," she said with a small smile. "And they ate, too."

He sighed heavily and slowly and gently, he pulled Hunter from her lap and situated the toddler in his, Hunter not even stirring as his head found a resting place on his chest. Around them, the others were talking in soft murmurs or getting themselves situated on the ground to get some sleep.

Beth looked to Daryl. "Daddy and T are already talking about water and crops to plant."

Daryl gave a nod. "This place could work. If we can make a dent inside."

Luke shifted in his sleep and his head slid off her knee. He didn't wake though as it dropped to the ground and Beth took one of their packs and slid it underneath his head. Now with them free, she was able to stretch her legs out in front of her and she laid down on her back, looking up at the stars twinkling in the black sky. She heard Daryl shift from beside her and then Hunter was placed gently between them and Daryl laid down, too. She rolled onto her side, facing him, and Daryl laid on his side, facing her. Hunter didn't stir from between them and they didn't say anything as they kept looking at one another.

Maybe if she closed her eyes, Beth could imagine that they were back in their bed in their little house in the woods and Hunter had crawled into their bed to sleep with them and everything was good and normal again. She wondered if anyone had found shelter in their house since they had been there last. She wondered if anyone was sleeping in their bed or if it was still hers and Daryl's house and had been untouched.

Maybe if she closed her eyes, she could feel the warm sunlight coming in through the front window, shining on her face and waking her up and she would hear the birds chirped outside and she would hear Daryl already awake and in the kitchen, getting the boys their breakfast together, and the television would be on as Luke watched his morning cartoons and she would pull herself out of bed and cross the rugs and hardwood floor and go into the kitchen, too, pouring herself a cup of coffee and kissing Daryl, Hunter and Luke and they would go through their usual morning routine, getting themselves ready for the day.

Maybe if she closed her eyes, she could pretend that everyone was alive and safe and the world hadn't ended at all. This was all just some horrible dream on account of that black and white horror movie she had watched with Daryl one night and she would wake up tomorrow morning and none of this would be real.

But she was already awake and Daryl was still staring at her and she heard the low groans and growls of the walkers on the other side of the fences around them and this was the way the world was now. This was her life and all she could do was get through each day, alive and safe, so she would be able to keep her boys and husband the same. She'd go into the prison tomorrow, too, hand-to-hand if they let her.

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and if you read, please take a moment to review!  
**


End file.
